I enjoyed the first Borderlands, but this sequel was an incredible improvement. They took every aspect that had (or was) a problem in the first game, and fixed it in this one.

The Storyline in Borderlands 2 is interesting and a bit suspenseful; it’s also a direct sequel from the first and takes place only a few years later. Unlike the first, the story missions seem to serve an important purpose in the storyline. The storyline in the first game felt nonexistent and boring. This one feels nothing like it. Throughout the game, the story progresses and you know where you are. The story is serious; Handsome Jack is a cruel and evil guy, but the game has a TON of comic relief—so much that it’s almost hard to take the story seriously. This game will make you laugh at times. It has direct humor and hidden humor, so be ready to listen closely if you want to laugh (by the way, the assassin Zer0 speaks in Haiku poems a lot). The only problem about the story is that it is VERY predictable; many times you’ll find your guesses right.

The graphics are vastly improved. It’s way more colorful than the first. The first felt redundant and dull; even when you would change your costume color, your character would still look dull. There are also more diverse areas that use color to help set the scene. The comic-cartoon style of graphics is a unique style of this game and it’s actually pretty awesome. There is also a decent amount of detail considering its style. The looks of the weapons are improved, and of course there’s more variety in weapons because there are just so many.

The voice acting is great in every situation. The music is alright, but most of the time you won’t really notice it. There isn’t much music to help add to the dramatic effect in most cut scenes. Most of the sound you’ll be hearing in this game is from all the action; there is always dialogue when you annihilate some enemies and from them, and of course the sound of gunfire. The most annoying sound in the game is probably Claptrap; he never shuts up. But this ranking might be challenged by annoying guns that talk/laugh/yell whenever you shoot, reload, get critical hits, or swap weapons.

The skill tree returns and is somewhat better than the last. Your character’s skills are more customizable and vary for each branch. Character mods (equipable) will sometimes provide a boost in skills. The new “Badass ranking” sets challenges for you, and completing them earns you coins that can boost everything from damage to shield recharge rate. However, the boost is very little and takes forever to build up, but this is only because the challenges never run out. The aiming and character mobility are both good and easily controllable.

There are lots of side optional missions. These are what help you level up most and provide you with extra loot. The story might get you interested enough to neglect these side missions on your first playthrough; this may add to wanting to replay the game. Of course, the primary reason to replay this game is that it’s fun. You’ll want to go back and find even more powerful weapons and weird ones too. You’ll probably want to find the legendary weapons as well (orange rarity), which are easier to find in your second playthrough. The level cap is 50, which doesn’t seem like much, but there are 4 very different characters, so you might wanna play each of them and you shouldn’t normally cap out by the end of one playthrough.

This game was made to be played with friends. One of each character makes a perfect team, and you’ll still have a great team if there are only 3 different characters. The more players in the game, the harder the enemies will be, the better the loot will be. Some think that having to share loot is a problem, but in my opinion it just adds to the fun and adds a bit of competition—“First come, First serve!”. You can also trade your loot with players and get something useful by giving something useless to you (useful to them). Playing alone gets a bit boring after an hour or so of one sitting. The more players, the merrier.

There aren’t many bugs in this game, but you might find a few here and there, but none are critical. There is one glitch that allows anyone to duplicate money (and weapons) and have the maximum amount, but it’s not that bad because all money really does is buy ammo because all other good equipment is looted, not bought.

The AI is good in this game. Enemies will dodge, take cover, and even flank sometimes. Character customization changed from the first one, and I personally like this one better. You get to change your outfit and head, but have to find them by either looting, completing certain challenges, buying, or completing missions. There are a few easter-eggs, some of which reward you with special weapons. Unfortunately, there was only one new vehicle added (obtained from a mission), so you only have that new one and the old runner from the first game.